Area students are invited to submit nature-inspired poems for the POET Tree poetry contest in honor of Arbor Day. Each leaf in a tree is a biorefinery, drawing energy from the sun. At POET, we find inspiration in nature's efficiency, and Arbor Day is an opportunity to celebrate that close relationship with nature.

It is open to all students enrolled in grade 5. Each entrant may submit one poem of no more than 20 lines on the subject of nature. The poem may be in any style, but cannot include profanity and must be the original, individual work of the entrant. By submitting the poem, the author grants POET the right to publish it in the summer issue of POET's quarterly magazine, Vital. See the entry form for full rules.

The contest opened April 5. Poems may be submitted until 5 p.m. Arbor Day, Friday, April 30. Winners will be announced on June 1, 2010. Winners will be notified by phone or by mail.

The winning poet will receive a $25.00 prize and have his or her poem submitted to the corporate-level contest. Winners at the corporate level will be published in the summer 2010 issue of Vital. They will also be awarded a Visa gift card in the amounts of $10 (5th place), $25 (4th place), $50 (3rd place), $75 (2nd place) and $100 (1st place).

Poems may be submitted by mail using the entry form online at www.poet.com/poetry. Entrants must complete the entry form in its entirety to qualify for the contest and may submit no more than one poem. There is no fee for entry.

(Kansas City, Kan., April 6, 2010) - Proposals for Wetland Program Development grants to develop effective, comprehensive programs for wetland protection and management will be accepted through May 20, 2010, from states, tribes and local governments.
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I was very pleased with the response to the Fillmore County Rent Survey and would like to thank all those who responded. In particular, I would like to thank Tammy Martin, FSA director, for doing the mailing with the FSA newsletter. I also need to t
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Mark Holmen, Fountain, Minnesota, was elected by the Minnesota Angus Association Board of Directors to the position of vice president at their annual meeting. The meeting, and other activities, were held in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, March 6 and 7, 20
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Each year I receive a copy of the Minnesota Ag Statistics. In the past, I've tended to focus on where Fillmore and Houston County rank amongst the other counties in the state in various commodity areas. I could always count on Fillmore being number
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Seed Savers Exchange, Inc., a leading non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds, has announced that a third deposit of heirloom seeds has been deposited safely into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.

The number of Minnesota school districts purchasing fresh food from local farms has more than doubled in the last 15 months, according to a survey released today by the Minnesota School Nutrition Association (MSNA) and the Institute for Agriculture
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